In his sermon on 2 Peter 1:1-15, Dr. David Rose examines how to cultivate a growing faith that never becomes “obsolete.” He encourages us to evaluate our faith, to see if it lines up with the features described in this passage. Ultimately, faith in Christ’s righteousness provides the security we need to face even our deepest struggles. In Him, we have “everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).
There is a Winnsboro, louisiana. There is a Clinton, Louisiana. There's equipment, Texas. There's a Winfield, Louisiana. There's a Winfield, Texas. In Texas, Winfield and Clinton and Winnsboro are all within about 20 miles of one another. I was a freshman at Northwestern State University and I was working in the admissions department answering the telephone Good morning Northwestern State University, and they would tell me they were from Winnsboro for Clinton or from Winfield, and I would say I know where those places are, and they would hear my East Texas twang and they would say no, you don't. You do not know where we are because they were all in Louisiana.
I grew up in Texas and the Lord has brought us here today and I bring greetings from First Baptist Church of Winnsboro, Texas, where I've served for the last 17 years. We sense that God is up to something new, and so it is a privilege to be with you all today and to consider together what God might be doing with us together. I want you to join me in 2 Peter, chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1, and the message that I'm entitled today is your faith and need of an upgrade. 2 Peter, chapter 1.2. Peter is near the back of your Bible. If you can find Revelation, that's the last book. Just back up just a few, you'll have Jude, and then 3 John and 2 John and 1 John and we'll be in 2 Peter, 2 Peter. We're going to look at the first 15 verses of that wonderful letter that Peter wrote to a bunch of believers who were scattered all over that New Testament world, fighting to them but giving words for us. And so today I want us to be able to explore that together. I want us to begin by praying together, and when I say praying together, I want you to be praying with me. So I'm going to pray some, but I'm going to give you some prompts so that, as we pray, you truly are praying about these next few moments that we spend together. So let's pray.
Father, we do gather in this place today because Jesus is worthy. We gather every Lord's day to remind ourselves that the world can go on without us, but we can't go on without Him. And so we're here today because we want to hear from you. We're here today because we want to be a gathering of people who are then scattered, to build the kingdom. We want to come together to remind ourselves through song, in your word, of how great Jesus is, so that we leave this place, we'll know we have met with you. We have once again been reminded of the greatness of Jesus and the hope that he has that we leave this place To be salt and light.
So this morning, there where you sit, would you pray that that would be true for you today? Pray for yourself, say Lord, would you help me hear from you today? And then pray for those who are sitting near you, if you know them by name, pray specifically for them by name. But even if you don't, pray that the spirit of moving this room so that those who are near you would hear from God today, and then would you pray that all of us, because of what we've heard today, would leave this place more intentional than ever about sharing the hope of Jesus Christ with a world who desperately needs Him. Father, you are majestic, you are holy. There's no one like you. You've created all things and in you everything holds together. We are nothing without you. We couldn't be here today without you, and we know that, because of our smallness and your greatness, we have no right to be in your presence, because of our sin and your holiness, that we have no way to come into your presence except through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. So today we come to you through Him. We pray that these moments together would honor the one who deserves all the glory, and it's in the name of that Holy One, Jesus, that we pray. Amen. Second Peter, chapter one is your faith in need of an upgrade?
We live in a culture of planned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence the smartphone that you have in your back pocket or in your hand right now as you're looking up it, is engineered so that it will only last a few years, so that you'll have to buy another one. They do that on purpose. One to drive old people crazy as we try to figure out technology, to make young people feel smart, because you can help us figure it out, but knowing that in a year or two you're going to have to get another one, planned obsolescence they do that on purpose. That planned obsolescence makes us begin to look at everything in our lives and to wonder well, those things wear out, or do we need those new things? Do I need the next phone or do I need the next item of clothing? Do I need the next friend group? Planned obsolescence that were taught that things just wear out and rather than renewing them, you throw them away.
I think we often live in a world that then tells us maybe you tried Jesus, maybe you church for a little while, maybe you've read your Bible some and maybe there was a moment where you came to know Jesus and you were baptized and church meant something at some point. But maybe there's something else now. Maybe science has the answers you're really looking for. Maybe that group of people can do for you more than anything that faith has done in the past. There is that mindset in our culture that says Jesus may have been enough at one point, but there probably is something better. Peter wrote to the believers to let them know there is no one better than Jesus. There will never be anyone better than Jesus. There is no one who can meet your needs like Jesus, now and forever. And so today we look at our faith and we ask is my faith in need of an upgrade? It isn't that I need a new phone, it isn't that I need a new faith. It is that the faith I have has everything I need. And so today I want us to look at this faith that has been given to us in Christ and ask ourselves is that the faith that I'm living in and, if not, it's time to upgrade it, not a new one, but to enjoy all the features of the current one.
Second Peter, chapter one will read verses one through 15. The chapters are the big numbers, the verses are the small ones. Second Peter, chapter one, verse one See me and Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who've received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these, he has given us very great and precious promises so that through them, you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that's in the world because of evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities and increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
First nine the person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things, you will never stumble For. In this way, entry into the everlasting, eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you First. Well, therefore, I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. I think it's right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord, Jesus Christ, has indeed made clear to me, and I'll also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure. Five things that I want us to see in this passage this morning. The first is this God says that our faith is valuable. Our faith is valuable. Look back there.
In verse one, peter says a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He calls himself one who is serving Jesus. You don't know the story of Peter. He was a simple fisherman and God called him through Jesus. On the shore he had been told years before he wasn't worthy of anything except manual labor the rest of his life. And yet Jesus, a rabbi, came to him and said follow me. Jesus changed his life forever. He followed Jesus for three years, told Jesus he would never, ever forsake him. Within a few hours, he denied him three times. A few days later, Jesus made him once again on the shores of Galilee and that same place where he had first called him to follow him. And Jesus asked Peter three times whether he loved Jesus. Peter said you know I do. Jesus said then, take care of my sheep. And then he said follow me. He gave Peter a reset. He had completely ruined things, and yet Jesus and his grace and mercy said follow me. Once again. Peter knew what it was like for the highs and the lows, and he calls himself a servant and apostle.
Look what he says to those to whom he's writing, to those who've received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Peter said that those to whom he was writing had a faith that was equal to his. I'm sure there are many who thought this. This is Peter. This is the one that Jesus has used to help begin the church. He and those other disciples had had spread the gospel around the world and called Paul, and Paul had planted churches and Peter was writing letters and they thought there's no way that my faith is anywhere near equal to theirs and that Peter says to the readers your faith is equal to ours. And so today, the question for you is do I believe that about myself? What I believe in reading this letter? That if Peter were talking to me today, he would say that my faith is equal to his faith. This is Peter. He's the rock. He was the spokesman for the disciples. I'm not Paul. I've never written a letter. I'm not Luke. I haven't traveled with Paul and and written a gospel. Is there any way that my faith is equal to theirs?
Well, if you look in your program or you look on the screen, you'll see in Matthew, chapter 11, in verse 11, Jesus would maybe help you see yourself a little differently. Matthew, chapter 11, verse 11, he says truly, I tell you, among those born of women, no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared. As they were looking at John the Baptist ministry, Jesus looked at him and said there's no greater preacher that's ever lived than John the Baptist. Wouldn't you love for Jesus to come alongside and to tell you that there's no one who is as great a preacher as you? And yet look how he continued. He said but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. John the Baptist was the greatest spokesman for Jesus by Jesus declaration, and yet Jesus said if you're in the kingdom, you're greater than John the Baptist.
Two questions Are you in the kingdom? And number two do you believe that? Do you believe that you have a faith that is equal to Peter's greatness in the kingdom, that exceeds John the Baptist? Jesus says it's true, peter says it's true. Do you believe it? Because if you do, you can live it. You would see that this faith is far more valuable than anything you would ever have known.
When I get a new phone, there's all kinds of features. I never know about them. So I go to my son, gabe. He knows everything. It's inherent in children. They just figure things out and he can show me all. There's a greatness here. I had no idea. No wonder I had to pay a thousand dollars for this thing, because there's so many features. It's valuable. This faith we have is valuable.
If God were to line all of us up in this room and he would say here's your value in the kingdom. And if he did that not that he would, but he could then there would be a ranking of sorts and somebody in the room would be very last and that he would look at you and say because of your righteousness in me and because of your faith in me, you have a greatness in the kingdom that exceeds John the Baptist. What kind of joy would that bring? What kind of hope would that bring? What kind of power would that bring to know that we have this kind of faith? It is valuable. But secondly, he tells us not only is this faith valuable, but God says our faith is powerful. Our faith is powerful.
Looking at verse two, he says may grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. He says that our faith is in the righteousness of Jesus, there in verse one. And so we come into this relationship, we're clothed in this righteousness, and he says because of this relationship, because there are knowledge with him, he then prays that grace and peace would be multiplied. And so you know that there are. There are times every day where you need the grace of God to pour over you, where you need the peace of God to fill you. And Peter says when your faith is in Christ, when your faith is in him, that grace of God and that peace of God will be multiplied to you. This is a powerful faith. Look at verse three. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Peter says not only is there grace and peace, so that that you personally can know his presence, his power, his strength, he says, but life and godliness are available to you.
Teenagers, college students, you're trying to figure out what your life's going to look like for the next 40 or 50 years. Jesus says that when you have faith in him, that the abundant life is available in him to everyone, it doesn't matter what that career choice is or what those grades look like on the transcript. That doesn't mean you need to make poor decisions. It doesn't mean you stop going to class, but it does mean that you know that your life is valuable not because of a degree or a job or a title. Your life is valuable because of your faith in Christ. And he uses the word Zoe. It's the same word that Jesus used in John 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, that say that we have this abundant life. So if you want an abundant life, it's not because of your checkbook or your bank account or your prestige, it is because of your faith in Jesus. You want real life. Come to Jesus.
But then he says not only is this abundant life available, but he says godliness is available, so that when everybody sees you because you're walking with Jesus, they see Jesus instead of you. There's a godliness about you where people say that that person follows Jesus. So this is a powerful faith. Not only is it valuable, because you have greater value than John the Baptist, but grace and peace are multiplied, life and godliness are multiplied. But then look what he says in verse four. By these he's given us his very great and precious promises. So there's grace and peace eternally, there's life and godliness externally.
But then he says there are these great, precious promises so that why is he promised us these things? So that through them you can share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that's in the world because of evil desire. He says because you know Jesus, you can live like Jesus, you can participate in the divine nature. The spirit is in you. Jesus the son is praying for you. God, the father, is loving you. You have the opportunity to know the Godhead through Jesus, through the spirit by the father, every moment of the day.
This is a powerful faith, so that grace and peace are multiplied, so that life and godliness are multiplied, so that the divine nature is continually multiplied. But then he says it also allows you to escape the corruption that's in the world. When you wake up, the corruption of the world begins to come after you. Well, it's because you pick up your phone to check your notifications. It's whatever sites you may be streaming through that that morning, whether it's the people that you interact with in the morning cause they hadn't had their cup of coffee just yet. There is evil around you Always. And he says because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, that you can escape that corruption. This is a powerful, powerful faith. It's valuable, it's powerful.
But in verses five through seven he also says that this faith is developmental. Developmental. The idea is that this faith isn't an ending point. This faith is the starting gate, that when you come to faith in Christ, it is not simply that you profess faith in your baptized and your finished. Jesus described it in John three as a new birth and babies grow. If babies don't grow, there's a problem, but the idea is, in that new birth, then there is this new life, and in that new life, then there's new growth. So look how he describes it in verses five through seven. For this very reason, he says what's that reason? All these things he's just talked about, the fact that you can escape corruption, the fact that you can participate in the divine nature, the fact that grace and peace can be multiplied, the fact that life and godliness are available, all of this is so rich, don't waste it. He says. For this reason, verse five for this reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness. He says see, faith is the starting point, and then that next step is goodness, or what is goodness?
Peter used that word that meant knowing good and evil and choosing good, knowing right from wrong and continually walking in the right, that there was this opportunity to know good and to be good. Be good, not simply some moralistic person, who who is now relying on yourself to make the right decisions, but knowing, because I'm participating in the divine nature, because the spirit is in me, because Jesus is praying for me, because the father wants abundance for me, that I want to know what that looks like. I want to know those good things. And then he says in verse five add to your goodness knowledge, supplement your goodness with knowledge. That it isn't enough simply to know right from wrong and good from bad and to walk in those ways. He said I want you to to grow knowledgeable and not simply facts, not being able to quote scripture, not not simply knowing the 66 books in order. Those are important, those are helpful things. But he says I don't want you just to be smarter, I want you to know Jesus, to know his mind, to understand his heart and to walk with him, so that, as you're learning right from wrong, the good from the bad, the evil and the righteous, that that you are then learning the mind of Christ. It's not just facts, it is the person himself that Jesus is the definition of goodness, Jesus is the definition of knowledge. That goes on in verse six.
And supplement your knowledge with self-control. Self-control that's one of the most difficult things to do for anyone, but particularly in our culture, because you're mabarded every day with advertisements to do this and buy this and go there. And self-control is that ability to say my body wants to say yes, I want to go to that website, or I want to eat that food, or I want to experience this thing, and the flesh in me wants to say yes, but the spirit in me says no. And because I'm growing in my faith with goodness and knowledge, then I know if I make that choice, though my body is saying yes, it will be detrimental to me and to the church and to his kingdom. And so, while my flesh says yes, my body says no, that's self-control. But he says no stuff there.
Add to your, supplement your self-control with endurance or perseverance. Endurance, perseverance, just the opposite. Endurance is when your body wants to say no, but the spirit says yes. You're facing that deadline, you're running that race and it seems like you'll never get there and you want to give up. And your flesh says no, I can't make it. But the spirit says yes, you can, you can't. You've got that opportunity to pray for someone and you've prayed and it doesn't seem like it's working. But you keep praying, because endurance says yes when the flesh says no. Self-control says no when the flesh says yes.
And so Peter says it isn't enough simply to know Christ to have this faith, to say that you have confessed faith. This faith is a continually upgrading faith, that you're supplementing faith with goodness and knowledge and self-control and endurance. And then look what he says To supplement your endurance, at the end of verse six, with godliness. It's the same word he had used earlier in the passage, and it is this idea that your entire character begins to look like Jesus the things you say, the things you think, the things you do. So that now all of this internal growth of faith and goodness and knowledge, self-control and endurance, all this internal begins to be external. It becomes this common characteristic about you. He says this faith is developmental, it's not a one-time confession, it's a daily walk, but it doesn't stop with you and the folks who are seeing it around you.
He says supplement your godliness with brotherly kindness. You see that in verse seven your godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly love, brotherly kindness. That now you realize I can't do this alone. That I've been called by Christ not only to know him and walk with him, but to unite with his body. That if I don't have a church, I'm really an orphaned Christian. And there's no picture in scripture of an orphaned Christian. You're part of the body and so it is.
Then that as you're growing, you're loving the church and you're saying how can I help you supplement your faith with goodness and knowledge and self-control and endurance and godliness, that you show that brotherly kindness and they show it back to you? That there is this love and affection that begin developing the church because we're pursuing a common person, Jesus himself. But then it doesn't stop with the church because he says the last supplemental thing, the last development is that then there's love, there's unconditional love, and that unconditional love allows you to love everyone the way God loves you, and so it allows you, in the self-control and in perseverance, to love those who are unlovely in the church, but then it also allows you to go in a dark and dying world and to love people who are very unlovely and to share with them the truth of Jesus and all of these things we've already talked about, the value and the power and the growth that are available in Jesus. And because you've loved them, they come to faith and then the growth pattern starts with them. They come to faith in Christ and you can help them supplement their faith with goodness and knowledge and self-control and endurance and brotherly affection and godliness and love. This is the pattern, that it isn't just a one-time decision. It's a daily process that, as you are growing, you're helping others grow and you're pushing back the darkness and expanding the kingdom. This is the faith that Jesus gives us.
The question is am I living that out? Am I enjoying all of these features that are available? Because it's the next thing that Peter helps us to assess. Not only is it developmental, but it is practical. God says that faith is practical. Look in verse eight. In verse eight, peter says if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful. In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, peter says if you're growing, here's the practical outcome they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful. And I love how Peter is very practical in his description.
He doesn't say if you're growing, they will make you useful and fruitful. You see the difference in how he's written it. He says they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful. Peter doesn't promise that walking with Jesus is going to be this incredible abundance every day, but Peter does promise that if you are growing, there will not be that time that you feel useless Now.
Will there be some days, maybe, where you're discouraged? Yes, will there be days where you feel like you're not as useful as you have been, certainly. But because you're involved in the church, because you're plugged into his body and because you're growing, it will be evident I am not useless. I have a purpose, I belong here and God has a design on my life. And so, even in those days where it seems that things aren't as great as they may have been once, you know you're not useless and neither are you unfruitful, because there are those days that maybe you don't feel that your witness for Christ or your growth in Christ has been as great in this moment as maybe it was in the past. But because you're continually pursuing Jesus, he says, I promise you you'll never be unfruitful. This is the practical outcome of this continual process that he is saying your faith will continually be upgrading. You won't need something new. Jesus is the end and Jesus will continually refresh it in you.
Peter says here's my promise for you If you have these in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful. But here's the opposite of that practical encouragement, here's the warning or the discouragement. Look what he says in verse nine the person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Read that again. The person who lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Does Peter say that they have lost their cleansing from their past sin? No, he says they have forgotten.
And so imagine, believers in the room that you know Jesus and you remember that lifting of the weight of sin, that all that shame that you were under now has been removed because Jesus hung on the cross and took your shame, all that weakness because of the sin that was in your life has been replaced with the power of the Holy Spirit. All of that guilt because of your sin has been covered by the blood of Jesus and you are innocent and you forget that Because you're not growing, peter says all of that shame will begin to creep back in. Satan will start accusing you of what you used to be, all that guilt that you used to carry because you were trying to pay for your sins yourselves. Satan will start putting that in the backpack on your shoulders once again, all that weakness that you felt that the Spirit had taken away, and that weakness will be in the creep in. Peter says if you are not growing, you will forget. You have been cleansed from your past sins.
And he uses three descriptions here. First, he says in verse nine the person who lacks these things is blind. That if you're not growing in Christ, peter says it's blind. You cannot see anything in the present. That life becomes very confusing, life becomes distorted and you're not sure which end is up and which way is forward, because you were blind. But he also says you're short-sighted. Your translation may say near-sighted Any near-sighted people in the room. You may not be able to see my hand going up right now because you're near-sighted. Near-sighted means you see near, but you can't see in the future. You can't see in the distance.
Peter says if you're not growing, not only is it gonna disrupt your present life, but you're not even gonna be certain about the future, even though Jesus has given us these promises that suddenly, because Satan has a foothold and because life has begun to crash back in, you're gonna be very confused. You're not certain about the present, you cannot see the future. And he says you have forgotten what Jesus did in the past to remove your sin, to bring you from death to life, from weakness to power, from shame to honor, by sealing you with his Holy Spirit. He says you'll forget all of that. The past is forgotten, the present is unknowable. In the future you can't see. Peter says I'm begging you, growing Christ, because there is nothing worse for the kingdom of God than someone who claims to be in the kingdom and yet doesn't know the past or the present or the future. He says this is a practical faith because it helps you, it keeps you from being useless and unfruitful. It reminds you of what Jesus has done in the past and the present and the future. It shows you value, it shows you power, it helps you walk. This faith is practical but he says, if you're not walking in it, you will struggle.
I remember when I was in seminary that there was a young man came to our evangelism class one day and he said man, I want to tell you I got saved this weekend at church. And all the men in the class erupted, began to clap for this young man and Dr Roy Fish was our evangelism professor. He said tell us a little more. So he told us the story of growing up as a preacher's kid and he knew all the answers in his head. But he realized that morning previous that he never really had known Jesus and he professed faith and became a believer and everybody celebrated. But I sat there in the seat just right behind him. I thought you have to write your testimony to get into seminary Before you can take a single class. You have to tell everybody I'm a believer and here's how I know.
I thought how did he miss it? How did he not know when you're supposed to know? And then Satan said David, how do you know? And thus began a three or four week dark night of the soul. I was wrestling, like God, how do I know? And I poured through scripture and I knew, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God's eternal life. I knew I had known that truth and accepted that truth, that I believed in my heart that God raised him from the dead. I knew all these things. I talked to Rachel on the phone several times and said I know this truth. But why don't I feel this truth? And I was in chapel one day in seminary and the pastor in chapel that they preached this passage and Peter was begging them make every effort to make your calling and election sure. I said that's it. I want to do that. And what Peter has said is if you're growing, you're calling and your election are sure, but if you're not growing, you'll be questioning, and I realized there were some things in my life of which I needed to repent and some growth that needed to happen in certain areas. Because of these characteristics that Peter gave us. If you're not growing, there will be dark nights, long days.
Back in 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest boat in the fleet that went across Lake Superior, was loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore. It was gonna go from one side to the other of the lake and on its trip it encountered the storm of all storms and the ship was sunk. It was 48 years ago this week that great American theologian, gordon Lightfoot, wrote a song about that the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And one of the lines in the song is so powerful Fitzgerald says does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours, when those storms are coming over the deck of your life? Will they seem insufferable? Will they seem like you'll never get out? Will there be those moments? Or will, because you are walking in Christ, will you know for certain that you're called, you are sealed and he is with you.
Peter says this is a practical faith, but it concludes with the final idea in verses 10 through 15, that this faith is foundational. This faith is foundational and several ideas that are here. This faith is foundational, on it builds everything else. And so, in verse 10, he says this faith provides our security. Look what he says in verse 10. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things, you will never stumble. Peter says there is a stability, a foundation, a security that comes when you're walking this way. That life will bring you all kinds of challenges. Satan will try to accuse, but because the Holy Spirit is in you and he is your defense attorney, he'll push back those accusations because the gospel is the gospel of peace. We will have our feet fitted with this.
Paul talked about in Ephesians 6 that it is this gospel of peace that we put on our feet so that, no matter what happens in life, we are stable. There is a security, but it also it shapes our destiny. Look what he says in verse 11. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we richly provided for you. What we know is that when we get home, that all of the efforts that we have put in here, there will be rewards for those. First Corinthians. Chapter three talks about that moment, that Bema Seat judgment, where we come before Christ, and he says he'll take all of the efforts of our lives and he'll burn them up and see whether they are precious or whether they're made out of things like wood and hay and stubble. Dr David Allen from Southwestern Seminary Once preached on 1 Corinthians 3, and he says when you come to that moment and Jesus is measuring all of your life, do you want to hand to him the works of your life that are precious and valuable, or do you want to hand him the ashes of a wasted life?
Peter says it gives us this stability, it shapes our destiny and what we are going to have, but finally it also directs in our daily activity. We know that in Christ we are secure. We know that our future is secure in him, and so we live every day with that intentionality. Look what he says in verse 12. I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.
Peter says I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but I need to remind you. And so today, the question that all of you need to ask is does my faith look like this? Is my faith valuable, is it powerful, is it developmental and practical and foundational? Because sometimes I need the reminder. But for some of you, it is that you're supposed to remind the person sitting beside you. You're supposed to remind that person in your small group Bible study every week, because, even though we know them, we need the reminders of them.
He says in verse 13, I think it's right as long as I'm in this bodily tent to wake you up with a reminder. He says I know that you know these things, but sometimes I have to wake you up. There are times that you set your alarm on your phone and it doesn't go off. You need somebody to come along and say you're late, you need to get up, there is something that is pressing and you need to be there. And that's what the church is able to do for one another to remind ourselves of all these things, because there are days we forget, even though we're grounded in them. There are days we've been distracted, discouraged. But not only does it create this accountability in the church. But looking at verse 14, it reminds us of the brevity of life.
Looking at verse 14, since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me Peter knew he wasn't going to live forever. And Peter knew, because of all the things that were happening, that he likely was going to die soon. And the thing he wanted most for all of those who were reading was that they would make their calling and election sure, that they would make every effort to add to their faith All of these truths, because faith is too valuable to waste. But then, finally, in verse 15, it's this reminder that it isn't simply about our faith and our church having this faith, but this continual multiplication so that it goes to the next generation. Because Peter said I will always, I will also make every effort so that you're able to recall these things at any time after my departure. And so, parents, what Peter would say today is would you help develop this kind of faith in your kids so that one day, when they go off to college, you don't have to worry about the choices they're going to make, because they're going to find a church family because faith is foundational. That even if they went to a place that maybe didn't have an active, healthy church because you've discipled them, they go to that place and they can help start a church.
Senior adults, it means that you realize that even though you've retired, you still have a role in the kingdom and though you're growing old, your faith doesn't grow cold, because the faith that is in you is this faith that was in Peter that says until you draw your last breath, make every effort to add to your faith All of these characteristics, teenagers. It means that you realize that Jesus is far more valuable than any person, any pursuit. That Jesus becomes the king of your life and you want nothing more than to find all of these things in him. That your value doesn't come from your performance on the field or in the classroom or the crowd in which you hang out, spend time. That this faith in Christ gives you the real power in your life, and you want nothing more than to know Christ better. And so, church, what Peter is asking us today is is your faith fulfilling all of these features?
Paul said something similar to the Colossians. You'll see on the bottom of your hand that, colossians, chapter one, verses 27 to 29. Paul told the Colossians God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me, Just like Peter, Paul was laboring. Paul wanted these people to mature. Paul wanted them more than anything to know that Jesus was the hope and the world needed to know it. And so what Peter and Paul both remind us today is that our faith may need an upgrade, and what he has put in you, he wants to continually develop in you.
Some of you today may have realized I've never taken that step, I've never started that faith relationship. In a few moments after we pray, there's going to be some encourages down here. I'll be glad to pray with you and tell you how you can start that relationship. But it isn't start. It is a relationship that would develop the rest of your life. But for the rest of me in the room, you may have realized I don't take my faith nearly as seriously as Jesus wants me to, and today it may be that you would say I want to walk in a new, found faith. Nothing new in that you know Jesus is the Savior, but now you really want to live as if he is Lord, the master of all things.
As Matt Chandler says all of life, for all of life. That everything in your life is laid before him. That is the call today. Does your faith need an upgrade? Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you. This day is your day. It is a day made for you, and you've given us a faith that has eternal value. I pray for all those in the room that they would respond today, as you would have them to respond. If there are those that are lost, that today they would know you have found them and you've called them home, but for the rest of us, that we would live with such conviction that we're going to walk in this new and fresh faith that continually grows for the glory of Christ and it's in his name we pray these things Amen.